Track Listings (12) - Disc #1| All Artists: Patty Larkin Title: Watch the Sky Members Wishing: 2 Total Copies: 0 Label: Vanguard Records Original Release Date: 1/1/2007 Re-Release Date: 1/22/2008 Genres: Folk, Pop Styles: Traditional Folk, Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriters Number of Discs: 1 SwapaCD Credits: 1 UPCs: 015707985123, 0015707985123 |
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Search - Patty Larkin :: Watch the Sky
 | Patty Larkin Watch the Sky Genres: Folk, Pop
"Traveling alone is a wonderful thing," sings Patty Larkin on her first album of original material in five years. She means it. As producer, mixer, writer, and the only musician involved, Larkin embarks on as much a solo p... more » |
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Amazon.com "Traveling alone is a wonderful thing," sings Patty Larkin on her first album of original material in five years. She means it. As producer, mixer, writer, and the only musician involved, Larkin embarks on as much a solo project as you can get. The veteran folkie plays everything from bass to baritone guitar, banjo, and bazouki on these 12 introspective tracks. Some, like "Hallelujah" and the opening "Phone Message," are driven by subtle, loping drum loops. Everything is overdubbed, including Larkin?s lovely, dusky singing, but there is never an insular feel to this atmospheric set. With its bubbling percussion, dissonant bluesy slide guitar, and spooky vibe, "Beautiful" tells of walking in a park with a somewhat ominous musical undercurrent to lyrics that infer, but don?t specify, impending danger. Larkin plays more conventional folk guitar on "Dear Heart," but on the most arresting songs, she pushes and prods the sound--and her layered vocals--in more experimental, less traditional directions. The tinge of Billie Holiday even creeps into her voice on "Walking in my Sleep," one of the project?s most compelling moments. This music demands time and attention. It unravels gracefully and gradually, repeated spins yielding previously hidden details that drift over the listener like a humid fog on a summer?s morning. --Hal Horowitz Similarly Requested CDs
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CD ReviewsOne of my favorite Larkin albums! Bond... James Bond | Denver, CO | 02/24/2008 (5 out of 5 stars) "I would include "Watch the Sky" right up there with "Perishable Fruit", "Strangers World", and "Angels Running" as my favorite albums. This new album certainly has a wider variety of song compositions and stylings than what she has released before. The electric Fender Telecaster is used more here, and some songs stray over into funky blues, Eastern European stylings (on the "Phone Message" composition), and other one-offs that she tosses into the overdubbings that make it, both with the interesting aural textures and quirky lyrics, a Patty Larkin song. More than any other of her previous releases, this album alternates between dreamy or haunting songs (like "Cover Me", "All Souls Day", and the "Bound Brook" instrumental), traditional folk, and what could probably be labeled more as "Adult Contemporary" (even though I am not really sure what that genre really encompasses). The folk purist might eschew the use of electric guitars on a folk album or (gasp!) the use of drum loops and electronic sound loops overdubbed together, but I do think that it all feels right at home here and I applaud Patty's experimental inclinations to stretch herself into different areas. I just saw Patty play live here in town last night, accompanied by her acoustic 6-string, bazouki, and Fender Telecaster. When she started into her "Phone Message" song, first she started the triphop/trance drum loop, and when she started playing her bazouki before singing, it felt like the kind of hip instrumental that you might hear walking into a nightclub in Eastern Europe. When she picked up her Fender Telecaster to play the high-reverb slide guitar "Bound Brook" instrumental, she called it her "folk Fender", and towards the end of that piece, she actually picked up a violin bow and (tried to) also play the guitar with that. That did not work so well, but she chuckled afterwards and said that was her "Led Zeppelin impersonation". Again, I applaud her for experimenting. The "Walking In My Sleep" song is also noteworthy in that it sounds less like previous Patty Larkin songs, and more like Billie Holiday meets Amy Winehouse. After a 5-year hiatus, does this new album mark the beginning of a (even) more diverse, eclectic Patty? Will her next album even include accordion and some synthesizers in the overdubs? We'll see. But I do like this album, and it has grown on me with each repeated listening. " Much Better Then Her Previous Two Albums Tom Caesar | Troy, Mi United States | 02/09/2008 (4 out of 5 stars) "I found this album an improvement over Patty Larkin's previous two solo albums and La Guitarra. It still isn't up to the standard of her four Windham Hill albums and A Gogo. I still rank Perishable Fruit and Angels Running as among my favorite albums of all time. I never warmed up to Regrooving the Dream or Red=Luck. After three listenings, I'm starting to like Watch the Sky. " Well-rounded Americana T. M. Orange | 03/17/2008 (4 out of 5 stars) "Veteran singer-songwriter Larkin turns in an incredibly well-rounded effort here: Americana pop that stays true to its roots but also updates itself with some well-chosen synthetic beats. What's more, she wrote, played and produced everything you hear on this disc. And she scores on every count: the writing is more than competant, the production is crystal clear, and the playing is very accomplished -- for those keeping count, that's twelve different instruments she plays. Her singing voice is a strong alto, perhaps roughly the same range as Melissa Ethridge, but clear and without any faux-huskyness. Though this recording appears on Vanguard, a hallmark folks label, Larkin shouldn't be pigeon-holed: she blends elements of folk, roots and pop into something that is new and irredcuible to any of them. She shows up a lot of lesser talents (Sheryl Crow comes easily to mind) and holds her own in a long line of singer-songwriters going back to, whom, Joan Baez(?) and ahead from there to Bonnie Raitt, Tracy Chapman and Lucinda Williams."
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